DRIVING THE DAY

RENAISSANCE WOMAN: In a 14th-century church in the Italian city of Florence, at around 2.15 p.m. U.K. time, Theresa May will today make her grand offer to Europe. Her 5,000-word speech on Brexit has already won the backing of her warring cabinet. She must now win over the rest of Europe too.

Brexit delayed: May will call for a two-year transition deal which effectively delays the reality of Brexit until 2021, POLITICO’s Tom McTague reports. Officials with knowledge of her proposals say her plan amounts to a de-facto grace period where EU law remains in place for two more years after March 2019 — complete with full EU budget payments, European Court of Justice oversight and the free of movement of people.

May’s big offer: In addition to the transition deal, May will also make a substantial offer on EU citizens’ rights, the FT’s Alex Barker reports. Barker says that rather than simply transpose their rights into domestic law, they could be enshrined in Britain’s final exit treaty so U.K. courts are forever bound by the agreement.

Charm offensive: May has already put noses out of joint in Florence by keeping local and national officials out of the loop, POLITICO’s Giulia Paravicini reports. A senior official in the Florence city administration said No. 10 had not followed the usual diplomatic norms and failed to include city officials in any of the logistics.

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On cake, and eating it: Until last month Matthew O’Toole was Downing Street’s Brexit spokesman. Writing for POLITICO, he today urges May to “communicate frankly” to the public the trade-offs Britain faces as it decides how to leave the EU. And he admits No. 10’s “prolonged vagueness” about Brexit has already damaged its credibility at home and across Europe.

May’s Day (yesterday): After squaring off her cabinet, the prime minister ran the contents of the speech past Jean-Claude Juncker and Irish PM Leo Varadkar last night, the Times’ Francis Elliott reports in an entertaining write-through of the day.

Popping corks:Red Box’s Hannah McGrath says that after the speech May will fly back to the U.K. for a champagne reception with 30 Tory MPs at Chequers this weekend.

MEANWHILE IN BRUSSELS

BARNIER WATCH: Michel Barnier will respond on behalf of the EU shortly after May’s speech, senior EU officials told POLITICO. In his own speech yesterday Barnier questioned why “major uncertainty” remains over all the key issues of the negotiation, and warned Britain it must “settle the accounts.”

Also speaking today: Martin Selmayr, all-powerful chief of staff to Jean-Claude Juncker, will take part in a discussion on the future of Europe in Brussels at 12.15 p.m. U.K. time.

LABOUR LAND

WE MEET AGAIN: Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee meets in Brighton tonight to finalize preparations for this year’s party conference, which kicks off on Sunday morning. Tonight’s summit should be less significant than Tuesday’s landmark meeting where members agreed to offer extra NEC seats to (pro-Corbyn) local party reps, lower the threshold for future leadership candidates to get onto the ballot, and kick off a broad review of Labour’s entire party rulebook.

Playbook interview: Labour Party chairman and veteran Corbyn ally Ian Lavery spoke to Playbook last night about why handing power to the party’s near-600,000-strong left-wing membership is the right thing to do. Lavery said putting the membership in control will transform Labour into a “mass movement” which will sweep to power at the next election. And insisted there are no plans bringing back the mandatory re-selection of MPs, which Labour moderates fear would lead a purge of the current parliamentary party.

— Brighton: “This conference is about turning the party into a mass movement, right across every community in the U.K. This will be the biggest conference the Labour Party has had in many, many years — if not in its history. It is about harnessing the energy of the party members.”

— Rule changes: “There will be criticisms and there will be resistance. But as I speak we’ve got 569,500 members — this is the biggest party we’ve seen for generations. There is a buzz about politics, with people wanting to be involved in politics for the first time. The party has got to reflect that membership. It cannot be (controlled) from the center by just a very few people. It’s about giving people a voice.”

— MPs vs. members: “Some things in politics never change — and MPs perhaps being out of kilter with the constituency they represent has always happened and will never change. That’s been part of politics forever and a day, and will be part of politics for the future.”

— Mandatory re-selections: “(The current system) gives constituency members the right to accept the MP or suggest somebody else. I haven’t even considered changing that at this moment in time, and I think that’s the way we will continue. The review is a wide review, it’s looking at ways to open up the party. As far as how MPs are re-selected, there isn’t anybody talking about that at all.”

One man’s freedom fighter:In his first pre-conference interview, Jeremy Corbyn tells the Guardian’s Anushka Asthana and Rowena Mason that Labour is now the “mainstream” option for British voters, with the Tories “in disarray” over Brexit.

Tory infiltrator: Playbook understands the Editor of the London Evening Standard has applied for — and been granted — a media pass for Labour conference. Which would normally be quite unremarkable … but it should be fascinating to see how Corbynista activists react to “Austerity Chancellor” George Osborne wandering around the Brighton conference hall.

The view from Brighton:The Guardian’s Ewan MaCaskill has a nice piece on Corbynistas in Brighton and how they made their peace with local MP Peter Kyle.

Conference forecast: 😎😎😎 Brighton should be dry and sunny this Sunday with highs of 19C. Pack your swimsuit.

Diary note: Diane Abbott is on Any Questions tonight.

ICYMI LAST NIGHT

BBC QUESTION TIME: Playbook took one for the team and endured a fairly uneventful Question Time, which offered plenty of heat but not too much light on Brexit. A ding-dong between Tory Brexiteer Kwasi Kwarteng and Corbynista Paul Mason about the risks of a cliff-edge Brexit was moderately entertaining. But most notable was Kwarteng’s message to Theresa May — shared by many in his party — that her €20bn offer to Brussels, as reported by the FT, should be a final one. “I for one would be reluctant to pay a penny more,” he said.

HAMMOND WINDFALL: Yesterday’s positive net borrowing stats have given Chancellor Philip Hammond £10billion to spend in his autumn budget, the Times reckons. Among those hoping for cash will be the police service — today Sara Thornton, the head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, says the spate of terror attacks this year have left day-to-day policing badly over-stretched. She is on the Today program at 7.50 a.m.

DRIVING TODAY: Times’ Media Correspondent Matthew Moore reports on disquiet at the BBC over requests from Today program Editor Sarah Sands for more coverage of arts and fashion on the network’s flagship news show.

ARMED POLICE STATS: At 10.30 a.m. the Police Federation will announce the results of its first national firearms survey in more than a decade. More than 30,000 officers responded.

WARMONGERS VS. PEACENIKS: Policy Exchange today publishes a handy guide to how each MP voted in five crunch foreign policy decisions since 2010. The spreadsheet covers the 2011 intervention in Libya; the aborted 2013 intervention in Syria; the 2014 airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq; the 2015 airstrikes against ISIS in Syria; and the 2016 vote on renewing Trident. The think-tank also publishes a new report calling for more cross party co-operation on foreign policy.

IMMIGRATION CLAMPDOWN: Banks and building societies are to carry out checks on 70m current accounts from January in a new attempt to weed out illegal immigration, the Guardian reports.

CARE CRISIS: NHS England Director of Operations Matthew Swindells, former Health Minister Norman Lamb and Local Government Association Head of Policy Sally Burlington will all speak at an IPPR event this morning on the crisis in health and social care funding.

MEDIA ROUND

Also on the Today program: Steffan Kampeter, Confederation of German Employers’ Association, 7.20 a.m. … Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, 7.50 a.m. … Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum, now advising the German government, 8.20 a.m.

Key line: “At next week’s Labour conference, Brexit could prove the greatest flashpoint. The trade union movement and business lobbyists will both push for a softer stance.”

BEYOND THE M25

GRAY DAY: Transport Secretary Chris Grayling makes a major speech in Manchester this morning on infrastructure in the North. The knives are out among regional leaders after Grayling delayed or cancelled a series of long-promised rail projects earlier in the summer.

All this from Berlin

TWO DAYS TO GO: The German election takes place this Sunday. Polls close at 5 p.m. U.K. time, with projections of the result expected almost immediately from state broadcasters. POLITICO will be live blogging from 10 a.m. Sunday here.

Must-read analysis: Angela Merkel is cruising toward re-election on Sunday, but the shape of her next government is unclear, with four smaller parties locked in a dead heat for third place. By POLITICO’s Berlin-based Chief Europe Correspondent, Matthew Karnitschnig.

ONE DAY TO GO: New Zealand also goes to the polls tomorrow, with prime minister Bill English feeling confident despite the astonishing opposition surge led by Labour’s new 37-year-old leader Jacinda Ardern. The Guardian’s Eleanor Ainge Roy reports.

And from Toronto

MENAGE-A-TROIS: Prince Harry will meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump today during his visit to Toronto for the Invictus Games.

LONG READS OF THE WEEK

MUELLER … MUELLER … MUELLER: An informed look at what we know so far about the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as he investigates the U.S. president and his associates. By former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti for POLITICO magazine.

RED SUN RISING: The growing threat to the West from Chinese globalism and how to respond. Special report in today’s Economist.

COMING THIS WEEKEND

LABOUR DAYS: The Labour national Women’s Conference takes place in Brighton tomorrow. Then tomorrow night Jeremy Corbyn will hold a rally in Brighton town centre. Labour Conference itself kicks off on Sunday.

SUNDAY SHOWS LOOK-AHEAD: Jeremy Corbyn is on the Marr Show … Len McCluskey is on Peston, with Chuka Umunna and Katie Perrior in “Croissant Corner” … Tom Watson, Caroline Flint and Lisa Nandy are on Sunday with Niall Paterson, along with paper reviewers Owen Jones, Ayesha Hazarika and Playbook’s own Jack Blanchard … John McDonnell and Tom Watson are both on Pienaar’s Politics.

LONDON CALLING

Westminster weather: 😎😎😎 Warm, dry and sunny day with highs of 18C. Almost as nice as Florence, in fact.

Big match preview: Resplendent in a new sky blue-and-white kit, the Lobby XI football team will take on Labour in Brighton on Sunday morning in the traditional conference kick-off. Lobby skipper Rob Merrick will be playing his 20th consecutive conference season, his first match against Labour in 1998 having featured a youthful Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, James Purnell and many more. Goal-poacher Burnham is one of three possible Labour mayors who could turn out on Sunday, along with rock-solid center half Steve Rotheram and ankle-biter Sadiq Khan. Last year’s match finished level, with Labour pinching victory on penalties thanks to a winner from, erm, Scouse comedian John Bishop.

More football news: iNHouse Communications is the new partner of the UK Parliamentary Football Club, with a two-year sponsorship deal. They will help the cross-party MPs’ team — captained by Labour veteran Clive Betts — with its PR and charitable work. The iNHouse name will thus be emblazoned across the Labour team’s shirts on Sunday morning — a helpful reminder for thirsty hacks and MPs to swing by their legendary conference karaoke nights at the London Lounge.

Spotted: Chancellor Philip Hammond, preparing for Theresa May’s big speech last night by watching Foo Fighters at the Later with Jools Holland recording at the Royal Albert Hall … Sally Bercow, wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, “wandering through a Westminster cafe wearing a Corbyn t-shirt” (H/T Kate Proctor).

Remembering: Former Tory MP and arch Euroskeptic Sir Teddy Taylor, who has died aged 80. He merrily described himself as “the biggest Euro-bore there ever was.” Which frankly is a pretty high bar. Read the Guardian’s obit here.

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